project statement -
It’s easy to forget to slow down and appreciate your surroundings while you’re sailing; it has a balance of serenity, adventure, and connection to nature that is beautiful. As someone who grew up sailing, I often take the skills I developed and the range of tranquility I felt for granted. I wanted to use this project as an outlet and moment to pause and focus on something that I have a strong connection to that makes me feel alive. From Stem to Stern is a series of photographs about the quiet, yet exciting nature of sailing. It is about finding the smaller details: the way people coil ropes on the docks or side rails, and the sailor’s crucial tools that are always on hand to cut a line or bend something back into place. At first glance, these details may not look like much, but taking a moment to zoom in or find the symmetry in them brings them to the foreground .
There are also the bigger moments: like a boat heeling over from the forceful wind on its sails. A flat boat is a fast boat, and it sure makes for a good photo! These photographs invite the viewer to immerse themselves in the thrill of this sport: fixing something while speeding down the lake, the wind dramatically tousling through someone’s hair, the elegance and awe-inspiring nature of sailing to those both unfamiliar and familiar with the sport. It’s the heat of the moment rush of adrenaline that makes these moments on the water leave you feeling like you’re on top of the world.